Alienware surrenders the high end in gaming desktops

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Downhill experiences with Alienware this past year or so as well.  I am particularly disappointed with their bait and switch gpu card naming when you think you are getting retail but getting the cleverly named OEM crippled version. :(

I don't know if people are opting for the most powerful GPU when buying Alienware these days. Everyone is on their xbox and playstation. Then you got the hardcore pc gamers who continue to build their own towers. This is just my opinion, but I think the majority of AW owners are buying for non gaming reasons. I have the m14x and m17x. I use neither for gaming but for photo/video editing instead. Maybe Dell has noticed this?

Well I purchased an M17x R2 because it was 1000 euros less than a Precision M6500. I had no intention of using it for gaming but it seemed to be the answer to the constant crashing I encountered when using Photoshop and Flash together on my previous Inspiron 7120. It does what I wanted it to do but it also got me into gaming. :)

I thought 'well now you have a gaming rig why not try gaming on it?" and I bought a copy of Skyrim. Amazing fun!!!

I was just thinking that Alienware is going the way of Voodoo PC after they were acquired by HP.  Voodoo PC is no more.

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe watch HP for Dell's next move?

Buy VoodooPC
Consumer-ize line
Create flagship BlackBird
Stop upgrading BlackBird as tech. progresses
Delete high-end BlackBird from line
Create FireBird ("Form over Function" or "Less is More and Good-Enough")

... at lest Dell created the Aurora and has kept it around so far.

The current line of Alienware desktops is notable for what is missing No full tower Area-51 ATX systems No ALX systems No high end video card options No ATI video card options and notable for what has been added A weak pizza box gaming desktop that does not deserve the 51 moniker A truncated Aurora micro-ATX that has no high end video card options I own 3 Alienware computers (2 laptops and one desktop) I am a proud owner of an Aurora R3 desktop.  However, if this trend does not change, it is likely that I have purchased my last Alienware desktop.  I will be looking for a vendor that has a full gaming pc product line of high end desktop gaming systems.

Go with OriginPC. The original founders of Alienware.

Origin PC have a long way to go in my opinion before they can try to be what Alienware was/is.

Malibal is looking really promising, I mean you can put Xeon Processors or 990x, triple channel memory running Raid 5 with better global support options than Origin but much like Origin they appear to be using the Clevo Chassis which is where is AW excels.

I'm told Malibal do custom jobs for people with huge budgets, where virtually anything is possible, this maybe hearsay, you know what Gamers are like, "My 920XM is running stable at 12.1GHz using bolts of lightening for power with a flux capacitor mk II".

When I contacted Malibal about the Custom Jobs, they told me tell us your budget and we'll come back with an answer as to what we can do. I told them I was planning on £5,000 GBP ($8-9,000 USD) but I can do higher if needed, and they came back with a machine would CRUSH my M18x, but at the time they didn't have EU support or on-site service in the UK so Dell won my money for the same reason I've always stayed with Dell.  

Eurocom both do Laptops (Panther 2.0) which will destroy both Alienware, Origin and Malibal with extreme prejudice including Raid 10 support with 4 hard drives, so Origin is hardly the top end. Eurocom's warranty and service are on-parr with Origin on a global scale.

If Origin sort their warranty and support out, then they maybe an AW competitor but they are hardly the top dog for power.

I was talking about desktops. Gaming on laptops is a waste imo.

Top Spec M18x = $6,824.08

Custom Built Desktop with Two 7970 GPU's, 2700k, RevoDrive Max IOPS 480GB, 16GB 2133 RAM = $3,778.87

Custom Built Desktop with Four 7970 GPU's, 3930k, Three SSD's (720MB Raid 0), 16GB 2400MHz RAM = $5,603.86

Both of those desktops will out class a M18x and for way less money.

The Laptops I mentioned are "Desktop Replacements" so worthy of a mention within the scope of Alienware Surrenders the top IMO.

Origin or Alienware

* Can Never!

* Could Never in the Past!

and

* Will Never in the Future

compete with custom built rigs tuned by an enthusiast, people out there are doing crazy things to push their limits, its a very 1-up-manship thing, so even bringing AW into the mix is likely you get you laughed out of the conversation.

I assumed we was talking pre-built systems from companies like Origin and Alienware.

The X51 is a particularly weak ofering from Alienware.  There is no way that a powerful desktop can fit into a form factor that size. The Falcon NW Fragbox is vastly superior.  

89fordprobee, when you get it benchmark it and compare it to the M17XR2 benchmarks.  Please post the results, as I would love to see a computer be 20 times better.

well being Orgin was Alienware ... they dont have far do go as you think LOL

Dell support is getting worst and worst .... orgin is basically Alienware Ex owner restarting  again  and honestly is doign a good job ....

Does alienware offer a 3960X in a laptop? man howmany place actually offer desktop cpu in a laptop at that :O  dang does dell even offer that cpu period? LOL

and i do beleive orgin offers liftime support .. but is that the system lifetime or the company's lifetime LOL  anyway when i get my income tax back im ordering an Orgin laptop roughly 4700 cnd out the door and honestly its probably 20Times better then my M17XR2 was for not alot more .

... i said 20 times better not faster .... the issues i had with my M17X R1 and the 2 R2's  nothing can beat it although tech support did work with me , but basically  ur thinking speed should be 20-50% improvement in any regards based on the I7 740 bench and the X3960 stats although battery is prolly 20 minutes at best LOL